Jack Ross has confirmed he will make extensive changes for Sunderland’s Checkatrade Trophy game at Morecambe.The Black Cats are on the verge of qualifying from their group, with only one unlikely scenario - involving a heavy Sunderland defeat, and a draw between Carlisle United and Stoke City U21s with the Cumbrians going on to win the penalty shootout - able to prevent their progress to the knockout stages.

And after Ross made just a single change to his side for the 2-1 FA Cup first round win at Port Vale this afternoon, he has indicated there will be many more changes at the Globe Arena on Tuesday night.“We’ll make a lot of changes for Tuesday,” he said.“It was 5pm on Sunday when we were leaving Port Vale, so it’s obviously not long until we play again.“We’ve only had one day to prepare for the Morecambe game, so within the rules of the competition, we’ll make significant changes to the team.”

Goalkeeper Robbin Ruiter is likely to play, while players such as Luke O’Nien, Glenn Loovens, Alim Ozturk, Bryan Oviedo, and Max Power - all of whom are in need of gametime - could feature.Sunderland’s win at Vale Park means they will be in the hat for tomorrow’s FA Cup second round draw, and Ross is happy to have successfully negotiated the first hurdle.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

CLICK TO PLAY

FULL-TIME STATS AS SUNDERLAND BEAT PORT VALE

[size]

He said: “It’s not a distraction, but the focus is always on league games.“We’ll see what comes [in the draw].“I was happy to come here today and I enjoyed it.

“It was a new challenge for us.“I’d probably want to avoid teams in our own league, that’s the only thing.“I’d rather just face them in league games so anything outwith our league is fine.”